


Sheila's Ailment

by proofreading_whats_that



Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:01:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proofreading_whats_that/pseuds/proofreading_whats_that
Summary: Sheila has a strange ailment.





	Sheila's Ailment

“Who wants some dinner?” Maggie cooed. Shortly after they had taken Sheila home they had determined that she understood, to an extent, English. Macy was absolutely fascinated by this but her suggested experiments made Mel and Maggie uneasy.

“Look, she’s not even looking at us,” Mel said. “Its as if she has other things on her mind."

“Hmm.” Sheila seemed to be staring through her, off into the distance. “Wonder what’s up.” Maggie put the assorted fruits and vegetables next to the tortoise, who didn’t move. She put a hand on her pebbly shell and petted it as her empathic abilities unfurled.

“She’s really frazzled,” Maggie said, baffled. “Really... scrambled.”   


“What? I mean, its Sheila… but she’s a tortoise.”

“It’s almost as if she has something weird going on upstairs,” Maggie said. “Let’s give her a few days. Who knows what tortoisy thoughts she has. I can generally only understand so much. As you say, she’s a tortoise.”

\----

The doorbell rang. Mel headed from the kitchen to answer it, Maggie behind her in a sleep-zombie stupor and Sheila plodding slowly behind her. At this hour, it could only be Leonard who had been doing some repairs on the roof. Sheila had developed a liking for him and would eat strawberries out of his hand.

Too-early greetings were exchanged. Sheila reared back and plodded as quickly as possible back to the kitchen, seemingly in fear. “What the hell?” Maggie said, following her. Leonard was familiar. She had never acted this one around anyone. Maggiie gently put her hand on her warm shell. In addition to the frazzled feeling of the other day, she now also felt a weird fearf Leonard, of what he said… which is not what he said at all. A simple  _ Good morning! _ had been strangely transformed into some message of evil, as if Sheila were hearing two things at once. Maggie took her hand away and studied Sheila. She felt as if she understood somewhat, but she was missing something. It seemed to be part of her frazzled mind and had little to do with Leonard himself. She shook her head and wondered if she would ever truly understand the thoughts of a tortoise.

Mel came back from the entry. “Mel, I think we should find a vet for Sheila. There’s definitely something else happening in that noggin of hers,” Maggie said and explained the seemingly terrible messages aloud from friends and acquaintances.

\----

“Welcome to Dr. Estrella’s whole pet clinic, where we care for your pet head to toe!” the receptionist said brightly as Mel, Maggie and Sheila walked in.

“Uh, thank you,” Mel said and took a seat.

“I hope they’re able to figure out what’s wrong with Sheila,” Maggie said worriedly. “I mean, how are we supposed to say  _ psst, our tortoise’s brain feels weird?” _

Mel shook her head as they were called in.

“Hi! I’m Dr. Estrella. Nice to meet you; who have we here?” the exotic vet said, looking down at the tortoise.

“Her name is Sheila,” Maggie said. “We think she’s sick.”

After weighing and measuring the tortoise, Dr. Estrella showed them to an exam room where the sisters sat and Dr Estrella sat on the floor with Sheila. “So, what’s going on?”

“She seems, like, foggy-” Maggie said.

“Foggy,” Dr Estrella said, looking at the tortoise dubiously.

“And she wouldn’t say hello to a friend,” Mel added.

Dr. Estrella sat back. “Has she been experienced to any strange occurrences?”

“Well.. there have been some disturbances,” Maggie hedged, instead of  _ oh just the odd vanquish. _

“I think she is world weary and needs rest, at the very least as long as she experienced these disturbances,” the exotic vet said. 

“She’s a tortoise,” Mel said.

“Exactly,” Dr Estrella said. “So we don’t understand the entirety of her situation. The best we can do is give her time and not to expect much of anything from her anytime soon. She needs to heal from whatever is happening.”

“Wait,  _ is _ happening?” Mel said, concerned.

“Yes. Whatever it is that went on continuing,” Dr Estrella said.

Maggie elbowed Mel and hissed, “She listens to people speak and hears something else! That’s it!”

The exotic vet smiled knowingly.


End file.
